My carb guru over on the Brickboard assures me that the dieseling is just a mixture thing and I may have the floats set too low. I'll get that swaped around tonight and toss the bumpers on with some headlights and front turns, put in the clutch MC and re-bleed the front brakes - then go for a drive!! Oh, and Greg says that putting the hood on is a good idea and maybe some air filters

BOOOOOORNOUUUUUUUUUT!!!

The shutdown procedure on my Mini was to kill ignition and pull out the choke, otherwise the engine would keep on rattling and rumbling for 10-15 seconds. What do you expect from a 13.5:1 engine?

No hockey tonight...let's see how much more I can get done.

Yup that's a lot of compression...but mine is just pig rich. Too bad the damn SU's are so stupid to take off. Having fuel pour on to my hot manifold is a good way to make all my efforts go up in smoke (and not of the tire variety.

Still having loads of problems...I had to rebuild the distributer again as it wasn't advancing at all. We were let off work today due to a sewage blockage, so I went straight to the garage and got that working. Then I took the HIF's off for the third time and reset the fuel float level in a failed attempt to get the carbs to idle properly and get them adjusted so my eyes will stop hurting after being around my car.

I leaned the carbs all the way out (jet level with the bridge)...there is no way a car should run at this point - mine does. So I fiddle with the SU's for a while and there is just no way that they are going to get much below 1000 RPM. I run out of adjustment on the idle screws and end up with carbs that are all over the place.

Over on the Brickboard, the SU guru has suggested that I've got too much fuel pressure, at this point fuel injection is sounding like such a good idea. Anyway, all the usual things that cause dieseling are mostly not present. The rad is cooling things off, the timing is set correctly, carbon deposits - doubt it, plug range too hot - unlikely, sharp edges in combustion chamber or piston - NO.

I'll try to regulate this pressure down - the pump had worked with my HS's but they are external bowls and have more volume than the HIF's - maybe they can handle a touch more pressure. The pump is relatively new and is a factory unit (was running on the B18).

Now for the funny part - I've got to find a regulator that can take the fuel pressure down to 2 psi. I thought you fuel injected people would enjoy the extremes that carbs run at.

If the dieseling is due to anything else - I'm going to pull my hair out and toss that engine in the river.

I was going to comment on the fuel pressure just before you wrote it. There are lots of carbs that can't run above 2-3 psi, so you SHOULD be able to find an FPR pretty easily. If not down there, let me know and I'll have a look up here. You're sure the floats are sealing?

The dieseling: Did you have a tank full of 87 in there when you started this work? Have you tried some fresh 92? This is a mighty high compression engine, remember...

You're sure you've got all the vapour out of the cooling system, and that your plugs are in good shape? The plug might be causing a hot spot if the ground electrode is damaged. Try a plug a couple heat ranges cooler, going back to that whole high compression thing.

The dieseling might also be caused by the fuel being literally pumped into the engine. Yeah, I know, it should also require a spark, but you might have so much puddling that there continues to be a volatile AFR even once you shut off the ignition. Get that fixed up and you might eliminate your problem right there.

Thanks Matt, Ya, Holley makes one and I'm pretty sure I can get one here - but if not I'll call you tomorrow. I guess I'll pick up some high test and see if I can cool off the plugs a heat range or two as well

I'll try the FPR first as there is fuel everywhere. When I shut the damn thing off when warm it pours gas out of the carbs (vents, out the vacuum holes) - so I'm thinking this may be the problem (it does this while dieseling away). The needle valves are new and are not plugged or sticking (they are SU parts, no groose jets here).

I've never had an engine that diesels (except for the ones that run on oil) - so I'm getting up to speed on why this would happen (start with I changed every variable with the new engine install and kept the carb technology in the dark ages .).

The cooling system is working just fine and the big fan keeps things around 180 - 185 C when running in the garage. I think you nailed it when you said that the fuel might be pumped into the engine - it would explain the tuning trouble as well.

It really sounds like the needle valves aren't doing their job and shutting fuel flow off once the floats are in position. The reason not as much fuel pours out when it's running is it's being sucked into the intake and being burned obviously. As soon as there is no vacuum to suck more fuel in, it starts pouring out wherever it can. Did you give it a blow job when you had the carbs out? Blow into the fuel supply hose and raise the floats manually to see if they shut off. And then again, maybe you've done all that and I missed it somewhere...

Try tossing the old carbs back on just to see if you can make it run that way. If so the answer is a little more obvious.

You can also try something in the meantime: stick a tee into the line from the fuel pump to the carbs, and bleed off some of the fuel to a 5 gallon jerry can while you're running it. If you've solved your dieseling problem and the fuel delivery problem, you're probably on the right track with the regulator. You can try pinching off the bleed line with some pliers or a c-clamp and see when it starts to pour fuel out the carbs again.

I'm going to put in a FPR as this seems to be the easiest route. With the combination of hard lines and AN lines, putting in a tee isn't going to be any easier that just tossing in an FPR and redoing the lines (maybe that's why they sell you the fuel line stuff in 25 ft rolls - they know you're going to be doing it more than once! I have to relocate the fuel filter from where I put it anyway as it interferes with the hoses for the heater.

Good thing it snowed and is freezing - I sort of missed working in the garage with my touque on .

The more likely cause is that the needle valves are being over powered by too much pressure. The valves are new parts and the little springy piece of metal that is suppose to operate the valves is very flexy. My spare carbs have an alternate float arrangement where the spring is mounted under the float and would be less prone to flex.

If all this doesn't work, I'll change to these floats. Heck I can get the carbs in and out in about 30 minutes now - my fingers are getting so nimble I could hook rugs in Pakistan.

Yep, forgot about that.

So tonight I yanked the first carb off for the last time (knock on wood). I want to double check the setting and modify the fuel inlet. The main fuel line in was leaking a little (I hate compression fittings) so I drilled it out and tapped the carb body for 1/8 NPT and made a custom fitting to get an AN line on the carb - they don't leak. Love them.

The guys at the speed shop are going to have to get more fittings as I've lifted most of the AN-6 stuff off the wall and have it in my garage. Here's what I bought - a fuel pressure take off coupler and an auto meter fuel pressure gauge so I will know what the actual pressure is. Then I bought some more fittings for the lines and a couple more tube nuts. Then I found a chrome bling FPR that does from 0.5 to 5 psi in half PSI increments. They didn't have the Holley one that I wanted and everything else was for more pressure than I need - we'll see if this one works. I can hide it under the flame trap as it ain't exactly pretty.

This all means that I have to chop up my pretty fuel line and fit all this stuff in. Getting the carb pulled and modifed was half the evening and I'll leave the rest for Thursday/Friday night. I'm getting faster at building this fuel line and lots of what I already did can be saved. Should be going on Saturday (hopefully this Saturday). Then I can do the rest to get it drivable (clutch, bumpers, wiring gauge pod and OD, bleed brakes and a few other things).